Hand Soap

Between yesterday and today I tried this recipe for homemade hand soap--after a few alterations to the recipe, it ended up working like a dream. I actually used a natural soap from the dollar store, and it smells like lavender <3 

The recipe calls for an 8 ounce bar of soap, 2 tablespoons of glycerin, and a gallon of water. Upon noticing that my bar of soap was only 4.25 ounces, I cut the recipe in half and only used half a gallon of water and a tablespoon of glycerin. But it was waaaay too thick. So I melted it down again and added another half gallon. Still waaaaaay too thick. After a gallon and a half of total water, it finally worked. Here is my finished product:

This batch ended up making nearly a gallon and a half of hand soap for barely over $1. My mom loves the scent and can't wait to put it in every dispenser of our house. I have read that the creator of this recipe also made body wash by using the same recipe. 

I am now the proud owner of a ukulele (thanks to my brother for selling me his for dirt cheap.) Now to learn how to play the thing...

Blessings,

Hannah =)

Plarn Dish Scrubbies

If you haven't heard of plarn, you've been missing out. Plarn is yarn made out of plastic grocery bags! Some people use it for fashion, but I prefer its more functional aspects. Knit up in garter stitch with two strands, these little plarn dish scrubbies have a rough, ridged surface on both sides, making them perfect for scrubbing tough-to-clean dishes like pots and pans with cooked-on food.

Here is the method I used to make my plarn, and here is another, perhaps slightly easier way that creates the double strand automatically.

I used two different patterns: one was the traditional Grandmother's favorite dishcloth pattern (although much smaller), and for the other, I cast on 15 stitches and worked garter stitch until it was somewhere in the vicinity of square. The latter pattern turned out to be much simpler ;)

These work really well; my mom has already "stolen" two or three (with permission)!

Happy plarning!

Blessings,

Hannah =)